What do you experience during EMDR?
As you do, the EMDR therapist will begin a set of side-to-side eye movements, sounds, or taps. Focusing on the traumatic event while experiencing bilateral stimulation forces your eyes to move back and forth rapidly, which allows your brain to reprocess the trauma.
Why is EMDR tiring?
What’s important to remember is that your body stored the physical aspect of the memory and we are releasing this physical trauma from your body. People tend to be particularly fatigued after these sessions because of the strong physical and emotional trauma that was released – and your body needs time to heal.
Does EMDR really work?
Plus, reading EMDR experiences will show you that it really does work – time and time again. This is my own personal EMDR experience – everything from finding the therapy, going through the therapy, and the aftereffects.
What kind of training does an EMDR therapist need?
EMDR requires a highly specialized type of training that goes beyond general therapeutic training. Not every therapist is sufficiently trained in this type of intervention. Ask about the therapist’s specific EMDR training and experience.
What happens if you don’t trust your EMDR therapist?
While the person does not have to go into great detail about his disturbing memories, if the EMDR client does not trust his or her therapist, he or she may not accurately report what is felt and what changes he or she is (or isn’t) experiencing during the eye movements.
Can EMDR be used on a dissociative client?
Once that became clear however, the EMDR Institute’s training program was modified to say that 1) EMDR should not be used on a dissociative client without the therapist having training and experience with that population and 2) clients should be screened for dissociation before doing EMDR, likely with the DES-II.